Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in South Korea
South Korea: Income inequality vs. GDP per capita was 0.3291 in 2021. ▲ Rising
Income inequality vs. GDP per capita in South Korea, 2006–2021
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2021, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in South Korea stood at 0.3291.
That represents a change of up 0.6% on the previous year and up 2.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality vs. gdp per capita in South Korea peaked at 0.3522 in 2016 and was at its lowest, 0.3119, in 2014.
That places South Korea 74th out of 120 countries with data for 2021, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 11 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 0.3201 | 0.317 | 0.3233 | 2 |
| 2010s | 0.3311 | 0.3119 | 0.3522 | 7 |
| 2020s | 0.3281 | 0.3271 | 0.3291 | 2 |
Countries ranked near South Korea
More poverty & inequality data for South Korea
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 6 surveys (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 0.72 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 6,615 kg per hectare (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 26.9% (2023)
- Gender Inequality Index 0.038 (2023)
- Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty 18.6% (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in women 0.0683 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient by sex 0.0683 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in men 0.0778 (2023)
- Income inequality: Atkinson index 0.1642 (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality vs. gdp per capita in South Korea?
- Income inequality vs. gdp per capita in South Korea was 0.3291 in 2021, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 0.3522 in 2016.
- What is the lowest income inequality vs. gdp per capita recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.3119 in 2014.
- How does South Korea rank for income inequality vs. gdp per capita?
- South Korea ranks 74th out of 120 countries with data for 2021.
- Is income inequality vs. gdp per capita rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 2.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Korea data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality vs. GDP per capita. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 11 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality.